Credits: 10. Grading scale: TH. Optional for: W4. Course coordinator: Hans Henrik Bruun , Docent, Inst för biologisk grundutbildning. Assessment: Written examination.

Aim
The students will be able to:

• describe and document, through feild observations and laboratory data, different soil types, understand the underlying soil development processes and interpret the interaction between soil type and vegetation

• describe and understanding the function of soil as a resource and environment for plants and soil-inhabiting organisms

• understand the interaction between soil-plant-organisms and the adaption of plants to different soil enviroments

• analyses current research on different environmental factors and the effect that changes in the soil have on the development, productivity and distribution patterns of plants

• use a different methods and models to describe the persistent productive capacity of soil.

Contents

• field-based analyses of soil-vegetation, soil sampling sampling methods, carring out and interpreting basic laboratory analyses of soil chemistry

• soils and soil development processess, the chemistry and physics of soil including physical, chemical and biological processes, the reaction systemsof soil, availability and turnover of mineral nutrients

• plant evolution and adaption through changes in structure and function from cell to individual/species level, interaction between plant/mycorrhiza/bacteria

• the influence oe e.g. acidification, nitrogen deposition and land use on soiland plants, prognosis models and alternative measures for maintaining the productive capacity of the soil

• student's individual project

• includes practice in written and spoken communication

Literature
Brady NC & Weil RR, 2002: The Nature and properties of soils. Maxwell Macmillan Int NY 12 uppl
Gurevitch J., Scheider S. & Fox G. 2003: Ecology of Plants.